It was a crazy day for Heroes fans. The entire community was frantically searching for confirmation on when Leoric would be released, and different rumors flew across different channels of communication all morning. First they said he would be available at 1:00 PM- we waited and there was no Leoric. Then we all assumed it had to be 2:00 PM - Still, no Leoric. Than around 3:15 - he miraculously showed up in the store.
The Gosu Heroes crew jumped on the Leoric hype train literally as fast as we possibly could. The wait was long, but after throwing away 15,000 gold without thinking, he was ours.
Here are some of the lessons we have learned from the first day of a Leoric filled nexus:
- King Leoric can clear waves very fast. All it takes is two Skeletal swings to decimate a lane
- Like the Butcher, Leoric benefits from weaving abilities inbetween auto attacks.
- Drain Hope will drain all hope in trading damage with Leoric early on in the laning phase.
- You can hearthstone while in Wraith Form, meaning there is essentially zero downside to Leoric's trait.
- When not talented, Leoric only manages to cheat around 6-10 seconds of death at a time.
- With proper talents however, this can get up to 30 to even 45 seconds later in the game.
- The Drain Hope build is real and it does a whole lot of damage.
- Despite how it looks, Wraith Walk is pure movement speed bonus. It is always faster than just walking.
- Wraith Walk can move you through walls, but you are stuck behind them once you arrive.
- Loyalty is it's own reward. Also, Your Loyalty will be noted.
- March of the Black King has a back swing and can hit from behind.
- Panic Entombs will not save you, in fact, helping Leoric escape is about the only thing you can't do with it.
- Abilities Tassadars Void Shift and Anub'araks Burrow Charge will cancel Drain Hope.
- However, stuns or interrupts will not cancel drain hope.
- The level 20 upgrade to Reign of the Black king is a lot better than it looks- the free Drain Hope is applied to all enemy heroes within the spells range once the third strike ends. This happens even if Leoric misses completely with his swings.
- Maps that encourage small fights, like Haunted Mines are where Leoric shines.
- Maps that are more about large, scarce team fights like Black Hearts bay is where Leorics trait isn't very useful.
- The slow on Skeletal swing is massive, especially when talented up to 60%
And lastly, that when talented properly (and when played aggressively) Leoric can dish out some serious damage.
Case in point. Happy new hero week heroes!
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